James Lane Diary for December 07: Yamaha guitar scholarship winner

Hi, my name is James Lane and I was the lucky winner of the Yamaha Guitar scholarship on the Institute’s Higher Diploma course. This is my first blog entry (so bear with me!) but my aim is to share some of my thoughts on playing and learning, give you some ideas about what’s going on here, and share some of my personal highlights from the first six weeks. So, here goes…

It’s been absolutely amazing so far! In my first week I learnt much more than I could have ever imagined, I didn’t realise how much I don’t know. This scholarship has started to create the foundations for me to get to know my instrument so much better. First off, I’ll take you through some of my favourite lessons:

Rock guitar

This lesson is taught by Mr. Martin Golding. Having never really played with a plectrum much before entering the Institute, this guy has inspired me to realise just how good your picking technique can get with a lot of hard work. So far we have covered legato, bends, hammer-on’s and pull-off’s, and various other techniques. Martin has studied pretty much every rock guitarist and transcribed so many songs, so he is like the bible of what is right and wrong when it comes to playing rock guitar. 

Blues guitar

Dario Cortese is our teacher for blues and he is probably the most inspiring teacher I have met at the Institute. He is so versatile and has so much to give to all of his students. Being mostly self-taught, the first term of my Higher Diploma has made me realise how many bad habit’s I have picked up. One of the main one’s being the fact that I use my fingers for vibrato rather than my wrist. I am now slowly filtering this out as using my fingers for a long period of time (especially playing as much as we are on the course) could cause me serious injury.

LPW (Live Performance Workshop)

In this lesson we have Dave Birnie. Each week he preps us to play a song, which we practice and then perform the following week, along with the vocalists, drummers and bass players. I love this lesson as it’s a great opportunity to network with different instrumentalists and I have learnt so much from the different styles of songs we have been working on.

Being a Yamaha scholarship winner also has other benefits, for example free tickets to see Billy Sheehan play with Tony Macalpine on guitar and Virgil Donati on drums. It was my best night out so far and was incredibly groovy. There was a long wait for them to come on stage but it was well worth it! I stood right at the front of the stage and it was a real treat to be so close to them all. I was able to watch Tony’s playing technique us close which was cool because I could compare it to what we had been learning at the Institute. Billy played a big solo about half way through and I swear I’ve never seen a picking hand move so fast!

After the gig I got to meet and chat to Billy. It was a really inspiring moment and a real treat. He was a really genuine guy and had so much time for us all, answering all our questions honestly and openly.

I’ve also started a soul band with one of the Vocal Diploma students, so it’s all going on and I can only imagine that it’s going to get so much better. I’ve just got to put my head down now and practice like mad for our first exams! I’m going get some gigs together for next month so on my next blog ill have a whole lot more news for you!

Speak to you all soon, James : )